1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical implants, and particularly to self-expandable plastic stents that are compressible for insertion into tubular organs of the body and that expand after insertion to stay in place by resilience of the stents. The stent according to the present invention is to be used predominantly in the esophagus, intestines, biliary ways and air ways.
2. Description of the Related Art
The stents used in the esophagus, intestines, biliary ways and air ways are made both of metal and polymeric materials. When delivering the stent to a desired place, the stent is first compressed into a delivery system, which is then introduced into the respective organ in which the stent is released out of the delivery system in the specified place; the stent spontaneously deploys due to its expansional strength. According to this strength, which can be increased also by the diameter of the used monofilament, it is necessary to choose the appropriate diameter of the delivery system. It is obvious that using the delivery system of a larger diameter is connected with more possible complications for a patient than in cases where there it is possible to use the delivery system of a smaller diameter. Heretofore, known polymeric stents (braided, cut out of tubes etc.) have rather low expansional strength. Thus, they require use of larger diameter delivery systems in order to achieve the appropriate stent expansion after its deployment and to hold the stent in the intended anatomic area.
Thus, a self-expanding plastic stent solving the aforementioned problems is desired.